John Morris Russell’s embrace of America’s unique voice and musical stories has transformed how orchestral performances connect and engage with audiences. As conductor of the world-renowned Cincinnati Pops Orchestra since 2011, the wide-range and diversity of his work as a musical leader, collaborator and educator continues to reinvigorate the musical scene throughout Cincinnati and across the continent. As Music Director of the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra in South Carolina, Mr. Russell conducts the classical series as well as the prestigious Hilton Head International Piano Competition.
A GRAMMY®-nominated artist, JMR has worked with leading performers from across a variety of musical genres, including Aretha Franklin, Emanuel Ax, Amy Grant and Vince Gill, Garrick Ohlsson, Rhiannon Giddens, Hilary Hahn, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Cynthia Erivo, Sutton Foster, George Takei, Steve Martin, Brian Wilson, Leslie Odom, Jr., Lea Salonga and Mandy Gonzalez.
A popular guest conductor, Mr. Russell has worked with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, the Boston Pops and the National Symphony of Washington,D.C. He frequently conducts Canadian orchestras including Toronto, Calgary, and Vancouver, and has led the orchestras of Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Dallas and Minnesota; Utah Symphony, Oregon Symphony, Colorado Symphony, and New Jersey Symphony. JMR makes his St. Louis Symphony Orchestra debut in 2025. His work in opera and musical theater includes Cincinnati Opera, where he conducted its first production of Hans Krasá's Brundibár, and the world premiere of Blind Injustice, which was released on CD in 2021. He has also worked with Wolf Trap Opera, New York City Ballet and led semi-staged productions of The Music Man and Ragtime with the Cincinnati Pops.
Since 2014, Mr. Russell has regularly led the National Orchestral Institute and Festival in College Park, Maryland, one of the nation’s premiere training orchestras. In 2024 JMR and the NOI collaborated with Wolf Trap Opera on a production of Kurt Weill’s The Seven Deadly Sins in a program to be repeated with the Hilton Head Symphony in 2025. Dedicated to sharing the American musical experience with the newest generation, he helped develop and conducted the LinkUP! Educational concert series at Carnegie Hall between 1997-2009, a continuation of the program launched by Walter Damrosch in 1891 and continued under Leonard Bernstein; and has piloted educational programs with the Symphony Orchestras of Cincinnati, Windsor, and Hilton Head.
For over two decades, Mr. Russell has led the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra’s wildly successful Classical Roots initiative honoring and celebrating Black musical excellence, which has garnered record-breaking, in-person and online audiences. Guest artists have included Marvin Winans, Alton White, George Shirley, Common and Hi Tek.
Mr. Russell has contributed seven albums to the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra discography, including 2023’s holiday album JOY!. In 2015, he created the “American Originals Project” which has won both critical and popular acclaim, and two landmark recordings: American Originals (the music of Stephen Foster) and the GRAMMY® nominated American Originals 1918 (a tribute to the dawn of the jazz age). The American Originals concert King Records and the Cincinnati Sound with Late Show pianist Paul Shaffer in 2020, honored legendary recording artists associated with the Queen City. In the 24/25 season JMR makes the next installment of the project with a concert and recording celebrating the legacy of the Harlem Renaissance, and a national PBS broadcast of Rick Steves Europe: A Symphonic Journey. Mr. Russell’s American Soundscapes video series with The Pops and Cincinnati’s CET Public Television has surpassed one million views on YouTube since its launch in 2016.
John Morris Russell served as Music Director of the Windsor Symphony Orchestra between 2001-2012 where he conducted over forty world premieres and recorded the Juno Award-nominated album of Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf. During his time with the WSO, he was a two-time recipient of Ontario’s Lieutenant Governor’s Award for the Arts. In 2011 the University of Windsor awarded him an Honorary Doctorate and the following year he was named the WSO’s first Conductor Laureate. JMR recently concluded his nine-year tenure as Principal Pops Conductor of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, following in the footsteps of Doc Severinsen and Marvin Hamlisch.
John Morris Russell earned degrees from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, and Williams College in Massachusetts, and has studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, the Cleveland Institute of Music, the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado, and the Pierre Monteux School for Conductors in Hancock, Maine.
John Morris Russell is known for his engaging podium style, deep respect for the classical and popular canon and unmatched musicianship, but his secret weapon is an ingenious programming instinct and the ability to connect with audiences.
“Orchestral ‘Pops’ is derived from the Latin word ‘populus’— people; it is music for EVERYONE. He creates programs that unfold on multiple levels and bring relevancy to the concert experience: individual works, familiar or not, that stand on their own; a larger story created over the course of a concert defined by connections between each piece; and an emotional through-line that brings people together.”
From holiday classics and thrilling spy themes to epic tributes to Star Wars and Star Trek; timeless melodies of Oscar-winning film scores, to the genius of Gershwin and symphonic masterworks with a heavy metal twist, JMR’s programs explore the rich mosaic of American music and have been proven hits with audiences everywhere.
A second-half devoted to the most popular selections from Gershwin’s opera with two soloists and chorus, with a first-half featuring contemporaneous African American composers including James Reese Europe, Will Marion Cook, Scott Joplin, Eubie Blake, Nobel Sissle and Edward Ellington.
A variety of programs featuring brilliant vocalists, pianists, and orchestral soloists; original vocal arrangements of Nelson Riddle. Also, with Marcus Roberts Trio—Rhapsody in Blue and Piano Concerto in F.
Roots, Americana and early Jazz programs based on Cincinnati Pops Orchestra recordings; original arrangements from the GRAMMY® nominated “American Originals 1918”.
A celebration of two masters of American musical theatre, with a trio of brilliant singers. Iconic selections from Follies, A Little Night Music, Company, Candide, On The Town and West Side Story.
The Symphony No. 9 “from the New World” with a first-half devoted to Dvořák’s influences (Sousa, Burleigh, Joplin, Foster), his “lost” generation of students (including Will Marion Cook), and those they taught (Gershwin, Ellington, Copland, Seeger).
Music from James Bond franchise in arrangements by Nic Raine, the original orchestrator for the films, and classics of the Spy-Fi genre including selections from Henry Mancini, Quincy Jones and Lalo Schifrin. Male and Female vocalists.
Programs include: “Star Wars: A Symphonic Saga”; “John Williams Classics”; “John Williams Cinematic Soundscapes.”
Iconic film scores from the Golden Age of Cinematic Music. Works by Korngold, Rosza, Steiner, Herrmann, Morricone, Jarre, Barry, Elmer Bernstein.
A tribute to the greatest Sci-Fi film franchises. Works by Alexander Courage, Michael Giacchino, Jerry Goldsmith, James Horner, Dennis McCarthy and John Williams, as well as backstories and trivia. Can include a celebrity narrator/host.
A collection of scores from award winning films from 95 years of the Academy Awards. Can include a celebrity host.
Unique productions with exemplary soloists; original orchestral arrangements from Cincinnati Pops Orchestra productions, and recordings: “Home for the Holidays” and “Joy”.
A collection of works from classical, popular and film repertory performed to evocative video elements; selections from the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra recording Voyage.
Local/regional cultural dance ensembles perform with orchestra and popular orchestral showpieces including works by Saint-Saens, Borodin, Bizet, DeFalla.
Symphonic masterworks that ROCK. A collection of orchestral favorites including works by Respighi, Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Verdi, Holst, Mussorgsky, Janacek and Tchaikovsky with extra brass for surround sound.
Defying Gravity: Steven Schwartz and Friends
Bewitching Broadway
The Wonderful Music of Oz
The evocative music of the 20s+30s from Paris, Berlin, Buenos Aires and Harlem celebrating the legacy of Edith Piaf, Josephine Baker, Kurt Weill, Ellington, Porter, Gardel, Piazzolla, and Kanter and Ebb
A trio of diverse singers singing the early country-western songbook including works made famous by Tammy Wynette, Loretta Lynn, Patsy Cline, and Dolly Parton.
